Who or What is the Holy Spirit?

"For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." II Corinthians 3:17 NLT

There are many misconceptions Christians believe about the identity of the Holy Spirit. Some view the Holy Spirit as an impersonal power or a mystical energy, like a wisp of invisible smoke that may be present at church or hanging over ‘good’ people at a funeral. Other than an imaginary picture of the Holy Spirit, most agree that He gives a life of freedom. The Bible declares that the Holy Spirit is God; a Divine person, being with a mind, emotions and a will (Acts 5:3-4, I Corinthians 2:10, Ephesians 4:30, I Corinthians 12:7-11).

The Holy Spirit is real and He guides us in Truth (John 16:13). The Holy Spirit is our healer, provision, strength, counselor, wisdom, helper, righteousness, peace and sanctification (John 14:16-17, Hebrews 13:6, I John 4:13). When we are born again by believing and receiving Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, God resides in us through the Holy Spirit. He awakens in our life, causing us to be aware of His unlimited excellence living in us and to believe in the supernatural (Romans 8:11).

There are many verses in the New Testament speaking about our vital union with the Lord: Ephesians 2:5-6 are two of mystery, but of such great news! This union implies that Christ is in us and we are in Him; He has joined Himself to us, making us ONE spirit. Physically we are on earth, but simultaneously we are spiritually seated with Him in heaven. We may be people going about doing the daily things we need to do, taking care of our families, our job, our school, etc, but we are actually ONE with God and He lives in us (John 17:26).

Because of God’s power released through Jesus, we have victory over moods, fears, emotions, mental chatter, conflicts and illness. By revelation of the Holy Spirit consciousness in us, we have power over all things; there is no reason to be a victim of anything or anyone. Freedom is not the absence of fear, lack, disease or challenges, but it is our ability and power over them to call God’s good into our life.

The fruits of the Holy Spirit are in Him, who is in us; love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). The key to experiencing the Holy Spirit’s fruits is to remember they are His fruits and they are meant to empower us so we can express Jesus to the world. These expressions are Him, not us (II Corinthians 4:7). Our behavior does not move the Holy Spirit, He moves our behavior. A life of faith is revealed by the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit moves by faith according to our belief system as we release Him to be in us what we cannot be and do in us what we cannot do. When we realize that the characteristics of the Holy Spirit comes through our attitudes, it’s easy for us to live in a flow of faith (Galatians 2:20).

There are secrets to operating with and in the Holy Spirit’s power. Many beliefs are based on family traditions, prejudices, ‘invisible’ voices of society, old hurts, disappointments, medical research and personality types. Unless we have revelation of the Spirit, one might think that believing from these sources is a normal part of life. We must develop a new belief system; reading the Bible, prayer, asking for revelation, honoring the power of God in our everyday lives, praising God for who He is, thanking God for all things, etc. Without challenging our old beliefs, we continue to sow negative seeds and reap the destruction of them. Living according to God’s Word is a normal way of living; living from humanistic beliefs is abnormal.

God never intended for us to figure out the steps of our journey with Him. How we begin our journey and how we succeed at our journey is God’s responsibility. Our responsibility is to trust in the Lord (not our own understanding), seek His guidance and obey His directions. We don’t have to know the reason for everything, and there is no requirement that we figure it all out before we complete our mission. We just need to trust and obey!